


Homecoming

by violetdelights (sparklyscorpion)



Category: Turn (TV 2014)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Nerd in love, Post-Captivity, Snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:42:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28181103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparklyscorpion/pseuds/violetdelights
Summary: Major Edmund Hewlett has returned to Setauket, but he doesn't feel as if he has reached home until the night Anna finds him alone beneath a starless sky.
Relationships: Edmund Hewlett/Anna Strong
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14
Collections: 12 Days of Turn 2020





	Homecoming

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the 12 Days of Turn 2020 challenge, for the prompt "snow."
> 
> For A, because you sucked me into this show and this fandom (and this ship!). You make me want to write all of the fluff, Bit. ♥

Edmund Hewlett stared at the dark sky. He’d hoped to find some measure of peace in observing the stars tonight, but fat gray clouds scuttled across the heavens, obscuring nearly everything except the thin crescent of the moon. The promise of snow was heavy in the air.

He did not shiver. He had grown accustomed to the bitter cold, to spending the night with no roof above his head. Things that had once seemed impossible to bear were now mere inconveniences, barely to be noticed. 

Footsteps crunched behind him. Edmund did not turn; he was not afraid. If it were Simcoe or one of his Rangers coming for him, they would be much quieter - of that he was certain. These sounds belonged to someone who was not tracking prey, who took no care in muffling their approach.

He drew in a deep breath, praying the cold would clear his head. He exhaled slowly before pivoting on his heel towards the noise, hoping that it might be...

 _Anna_.

Lord, but she was lovely. He could lose himself in those eyes, could spend the rest of his life scrawling down terrible sonnets about the mawkish feelings this woman inspired in him. Edmund was not a poet - his world was one of facts and figures, not flowery language - but she made him want to try. 

He would try many things for Anna Strong.

“Major Hewlett.” She had called him Edmund earlier today in an unguarded moment, but now it seemed they were back to formalities. He’d asked her to address him by his given name an eternity ago, before his captivity, right here on this platform that had housed his telescope. 

“Mrs. Strong.” He was not the same man he had been then. He had become braver, stronger, and yet more brittle, too. So much had changed, but one thing had not. One feeling had remained constant through it all.

He extended his hand towards her, resisting the urge to tighten his fingers around her gloved hand and never let it go. Edmund forced himself to release her once she stood beside him. “It’s a poor night for gazing at the stars, it seems.”

“Yes. Snow is coming.” She blinked up at the clouds as they simmered in an uncomfortable silence. “I thought--”

“How have--”

They both laughed as they tripped over their words, nervous titters that made the night a bit less cold. 

“You first, madame,” Edmund insisted with a small bow. 

Anna still stared up at the sky, not meeting his eyes. “I thought that perhaps you would rest through the night, but Mrs. Woodhull said you had gone outside. I hope you do not mind having company.” 

“I don’t mind. It has been several weeks since I have had such agreeable company.” The smile on his face was tight, unnatural. Her eyes were still averted, and he was glad that she couldn’t see it. “How have you fared in Setauket since my absence?”

She was quiet for several long moments, as if carefully choosing her response. Finally she turned towards him, her brown eyes luminous as they caught the faint moonlight. “I prayed for you every day,” she said simply. “When I woke in the morning, I prayed that you were safe. Before every meal, I prayed that you were well-fed. And after retiring for the evening, I prayed that you would be warm and well through the night.” 

“I was none of those things, I must confess.” The words slipped out before Edmund had a chance to check them, to edit the harsh realities of his captivity. But there was something about Anna Strong, something that made him want to invite her confidences and offer his own. “I despaired that I may never see…” _You. You, Anna, with your expressive eyes and your generous heart and your bravery that far eclipses mine._ “...Setauket again.” 

“And yet here you are, Major Hewlett.” A slow, sweet smile blossomed on Anna’s face, and Edmund felt his heart thud in his chest. 

“I’m thankful for it.” He swallowed against the lump that threatened to dry up the words he wanted to say next. He was braver now, he reminded himself. “May I be frank, Mrs. Strong?”

“Of course.” There was no hesitation, just as there had been none when she’d leapt into the water when her wayward husband had attempted to take her to the rebel side. Anna was a forthright woman, capable of decisive action even under the gravest of circumstances. Lord, how he admired her, and he wished he could say so without tripping over his words and making an utter fool of himself.

“The stars provided me great comfort during my imprisonment. I could see them every night.” _Until they took them away. Until they tried to take_ you _away from me. Until Simcoe came to end my life, and I nearly ended his instead_. “I...imagined myself explaining them to you. It helped me to remember. To remember that I had a place to return to, that I was needed somewhere.”

Anna took a small step towards him. “You are very much needed here, Major Hewlett.”

A few silvery flakes of snow began to drift from the sky, salting her shoulders and dark hair. His Anna, his Andromeda. He could be her Perseus, could save her from the monster that threatened her. He _would_. He had bested Simcoe once; he could do so again. 

“Thank you.” _Thank you for saving me when I was in that hell, Anna. I swear on my honor that I will return the favor._

She slid her arms around him, holding him close. She cupped the flame of the candle that had nearly sputtered out in his soul, nurturing it until he felt alight with things he had feared permanently extinguished: hope, joy, safety, _warmth_. “Welcome home, Edmund,” she whispered, her breath soft against his ear. 

“Anna.” He brushed his lips against the curl against her temple, wilting in the wet snow. That innocent kiss he could explain away if he must, an accident that need not be repeated if she pulled away from him. But she did not pull away; instead, she clung to him, swaying gently as he encircled her shoulders with his arms. 

"Oh, Anna." His voice was hoarse with want. How he longed to touch the curve of his cheek, to kiss her soundly until they were both left gasping for breath, to tell her all he had learned since that fateful night. 

Before, he had always supposed that Scotland was his home. It was the land of his birth, the land of his youth, but it was not his future. During those long, cold, bitter weeks of captivity, he had discovered that his home was _here -_ not in Scotland, not even in Setauket, but in Anna Strong. 

And as the snow fell about them, Edmund embraced his future, his home, and vowed to never leave it again.


End file.
